What Does Vegan Mean to Us?
To us, choosing vegan products is more than just a marketing buzzword. We believe that by offering vegan products, we are offering our customers superior products that offer both health and environmental advantages.
For us to call it a vegan product the item has to meet our standards. These include:
No animal testing
No animal has been hurt in any way
The item cannot contain animal-derived products
The Health Advantages of Using Vegan Products
We love our vegan products for more than one reason. Conventional products use animal ingredients that are rather undesirable once you stop to think about it. Ever seen ‘lanolin’? This harmless-sounding ingredient is the grease from sheep’s wool. Other ingredients include ground-up cochineal insects (carmine - a red colorant) and uric acid from cows (yes, that’s extracted from cow urine!)
The thought of slathering these ingredients on your delicate skin isn’t very appealing. On top of that, animal by-products can be heavier and clog your pores more than lighter ingredients like coconut oil or clay. To thoroughly cleanse your face, try our clay mask that leaves your skin clean and hydrated without clogging pores.
Vegan beauty companies tend to use fewer and more healthy ingredients in their formulations. For example, fingernail polish is notoriously full of toxic ingredients that can be damaging to your skin and nails, but our vegan nail polish is not only not tested on animals but is also free of the 10 most common toxic nail polish ingredients.
The Environmental Advantages of Using Vegan Products
Leather has long been a staple in fashion — from shoes to jackets to handbags. However, real leather from cows or other animal hides is quite toxic. The most common method of tanning animal hides uses chromium salts. This toxic heavy metal is released into the environment and waterways effectively poisoning any humans or animals who come into contact with it.
As a great alternative to leather, we love our vegan handbags, made from plastic-free grain “leather”. And we can't wait to present you our stylish Cactus collection of baskets made from 100% natural palm and sporting vegan leather handles made from cacti (coming soon).
Finally, vegan companies also tend to have a better focus on both using recycled materials in their packaging as well as using recyclable or compostable packaging.
Organic Beauty Products
In addition to being kind to our planet, we firmly believe in being kind to ourselves. These days many beauty products are bursting with chemicals and other ingredients that when used long-term can have detrimental effects on our health. Some of the ingredients found in beauty products have been linked to organ toxicity, hormone imbalances, and even cancer. These include parabens, mineral oil, and petroleum.
We love using organic products made from natural ingredients and materials and are happy to offer the option to you. Organic products are made from materials that have not been treated with pesticides, fertilizers, or other chemicals. They are better for your health and better for the environment.
On top of the hidden effects of chemicals on our skin, we think you’ll see some immediate benefit as well. For example, organic beauty products don’t irritate the skin and can even help to soothe skin conditions such as eczema and dermatitis. The nourishing ingredients also serve to hydrate the skin and potentially keep it from aging as quickly.
Check out our wonderful collection of organic beauty products. We offer everything from vegan shampoo and bar soap to clarifying clay masks to body lotion to cheery nail polishes.
Our Commitment to Our Customers
To give our customers peace of mind, most of our products are vegan. There are a few instances where we do use products with ingredients sourced from animals. For example, our beeswax wraps.
However, we believe the benefit to the environment by cutting down on plastic packaging is worth it. And we only source products from places that we’ve researched to be sure the bees are treated well. The wraps come from a family farm in Canada with a high commitment to caring for their bees.
In sum, you can shop our shelves with confidence!
Non-Vegan vs Vegan
- Animals Harmed or Used
- Can be Tested on Animals
- Chemicals usually Used
- Can be Harsh on the Skin and Environment
- Not necessary Environmentally-Councious
- Cruelty-Free
- Not Tested on Animals
- No Chemicals
- Contains many Natural and Better Ingredients
- Great for Sensitive Skin
- Environmentally-Councious
We source beautiful, high-quality household items and beauty products lovingly crafted. Simple, practical, organic, and vegan products to fill your home with beauty without contributing to the destruction of the natural beauty outside your doors. This is our charge as the human race and we here at Itemerie are dedicated to preserving the Earth and providing you with the everyday items you need.
